Central Illinois Clubs?

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Growers Choice,

I too have looked for any wine/grape growing clubs in central Illinois, but haven't had any luck. I had heard of a wine club in the Peoria area that held its meeting at Mackinaw Valley Winery, but I have not been able to run anything else down on it. I was just at Mackinaw Valley a couple of weeks ago and did not think to ask them about this club.
 
I started a Face Book group call Central Illinois Wine Makers. Look us up Bob R. I'm in the Canton area btw.
 
Tried to find the Facebook page. Is it still alive? Im in East Peoria and just getting my feet wet on this hobby
 
Hey RemysMaster,

Here is a wine club that is up in your area: https://sites.google.com/site/ilheartlandwine/ It is the Illinois Heartland American Wine Society. They are meeting today at Mackinaw and I had planned on attending the meeting, but had other things come up. If you hear of any wine making/grape growing clubs in the area keep me mind.
 
Ha, I see Buzz Daughtery is a member of the Illinois Heartland AWS. I work with Buzz, talk with him 2 or 3 time a week and never knew he was into wine. Small world.
 
I don't live there now, but I come back to the Pekin area to visit family on a pretty regular business. Maybe we can arrange a trade some day???
 
Hi all,

:a1 I'm in the Springfield area, but maybe this spring when the weather warms up, we can all meet some afternoon at Mackinaw Valley, sit out on the deck and have a glass of wine.
 
Yeah, there has to be a good number of grape growers/home wine makers in central Illinois that wouldn't mind just getting together now and then in an informal setting. It's just being able to beat the bushes to find these people. Those who would not be intersted in joining a club, but wouldn't mind kicking back and having a glass of wine.
 
Depending on the weather and availability from year to year we've made: Apple, Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Cherry, Wild Plum, Pear, Persimmon, Peach, Apricot, Elderberry, and Sweet Corn. We only make wine from fruit that we pick. I've found that once you get a reputation as a wine maker people start to tip you off to fruit. We've gotten fruit from friends, church members, and strangers. I've knocked on strangers doors and asked about fruit I've seen on one of their trees in the yard. In alot of cases people will gladly let you pick it, as it's less of a mess for them to clean up. Then if you bring them back a couple bottles when it's done, you stand a good chance of getting invited back the following year.
 
"I am new to this forum and am needing help with starting my back yard vineyard. I live in Illinois Zone 5 and have just bought two golden muscat grape plants. I am not sure how to start planting. I was thinking about a 6FT trellis for one vine and planting the vine in the middle at 3FT. Then for my second plant making a second 6FT trellis behind it about 4FT away with the second plant again located in the middle of the trellis at 3 FT. HOw does this sound, is it to small for one vine? Should I make it an 8FT trellis with the vine planted at 4 FT or have a 16 FT trellis system that can have both vines on it? ANy other question just asked."

Hi elewis,

Anything new on your backyard vineyard? And how did your Concord wine turn out? I'm not too much into the whole wine making thing, but I do enjoy messing with my grapes. Of course, I know nothing about growing the darn things, but I find them to be way more forgiving than wine making.
I did make 6 gallons of a Montepluciano kit wine last winter. This past fall, I made 13 gallons of Concord and then around Thanksgiving, I made one gallon of strawberry. Other than that, I can't wait for the grapes to start growing.
What part of the state do you live in?
 
Even though I was advised against planting my vines I had already ordered them and they were sitting at my house when I made my first post on here. So as of mid October I planted two golden muscat vines. The place I bought them from said it was fine to plant so I did. We will see what happen when the snow all melts. Once the grounds gets soft I plan on putting in posts. Although if the vines don't grow that would pointless. I ended up planting them in one row bit eight feet apart.
As far as my concord wine goes it is so good, I have been making concord since 2008. I have tried other fruits, but concord it the best wine I can make. I did make a pear wine with a girl from Industry and it was amazing after it sat for a year. I'm sad we had to share what we bottled because it was so good. I am going to make more concord with grapes I bought at Baxters Vineyard this weekend.
One dilemma I'm having is the wine I still have that I just don't like. I hate to dump it out but it's just gotten worse the longer it sits. Oh and to answer your other question I'm in the Macomb area.
 
Hi elewis,

I bought grapes from Baxter last year and a couple of weeks ago, I ordered more for this year. Seems to be a nice family, but darn that is a long 3 hour drive for me. My Concord sort of got messed up, so I figure learn from your mistakes. I can't wait to try it again this fall, but I sure don't want to rush the time. Jeremy down at Hopewell Winery was a big help in answering questions and offering helpful hints, but even with that, I still messed things up. Do you make it sweet or dry and how much do you usually make?

I hope that your grapes make it through the winter. I planted 13 vines in early October and later took some online advice and mulched them in for the winter. I hope they make it, since they only had 5 or 6 weeks in the ground before the weather turned bad. I went and got around 40 concord cuttings today and next week, I'd like to get that many more. Back in January, I also ordered some plants from Double A Vineyards that I am having shipped in mid-May. Just don't trust the weather around here. Next month we will have 300 Illinois native trees to plant. Also have 40 acres of prairie grass and wild flowers to work on, so it should be a busy spring.
 
Thank you for the info on Baxter. Finding grapes has been a real pain in my area which is why we make mostly fruit wine.
 
Manda said:
Thank you for the info on Baxter. Finding grapes has been a real pain in my area which is why we make mostly fruit wine.

I usually go during there grape festival and get enough for five gallons of wine. The price is pretty reasonable too, if they had a good year.
 
Bobr,

I usually make five gallons at a time so I get approximately 24 bottles. I would make a lot more if I had the room but I don't want to overrun the house with wine :) I usually make semi sweet concord, but this next batch I'm going for a dessert wine which I have never tried. This reminds me I need to start thawing the grapes for this weekend.
 

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